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Date Time League Season
9 August 2022 8:00 pm UEFA Europa League 2022/23

Match Report

Shamrock Rovers secure European Group Stages

Shamrock Rovers will have European Group Stage action to look forward to this season, as they secured an important win over Shkupi in Macedonia this evening.

A meeting with Hungarian side Ferencvárosi is now on the cards to see who makes the Group Stage phase, while the Conference League route is now guaranteed.

Rory Gaffney looked to be the hero with 65 minutes elapsed in the second half, but a late strike by Aidomo Emakhu helped them secure the victory.

The opening half was a lot more compact than the first leg in Tallaght but Rovers again looked dangerous in attack, Rory Gaffney had the first major chance after just three minutes, but the effort was dealt with in the end.

Richie Towell was thwarted twice in the opening half as he searched for a goal, Kristijan Naumovski made a fine save to deny him in the sixth minute, the hosts did have chances but Alan Mannus had little to do with Queven the man looking most likely to score.

It was hard to tell who would score first, Aaron Greene tried his luck from range but the effort went wayward of the goals, Faustin Senghor tried to cause trouble in the Rovers area but he failed to register a shot on target.

While Towell was denied earlier in the half his second chance should have conjured up a goal, but for heroic defending by Faustin Senghor blocking the shot on the way to goal, he needed Naumovski to make a great save to deny Gaffney from the rebound, all action in the opening half but it was scoreless at the interval.

Shkupi again came close early in the second half, Pepi Gjorgiev with the best chance from close range but Mannus was equal to the effort. The Rovers shot-stopper again had a quality night in between the posts.

Graham Burke came on for Towell after 62 minutes, his impact was felt minutes later playing a perfect through ball for Gaffney to chase, he looped an effort from outside the box aided by a deflection it flew over the stranded goalkeeper and into the net.

The goal seemed to take the sting out of the rest of the half, the hosts struggled to make Mannus worried in the Rovers' goal, they came close but failed to reduce the deficit, five minutes from time it was 2-0, Aidomo Emakhu raced through to connect with a long Dylan Watts through ball, the keeper missed the ball to clear and it gave the youngster an empty net to slot home.

Sunday Adetunji scored in injury time for a late consolation goal, but not enough to knock Rovers on a famous European night for the Hoops.

Shkupi

1Kristijan Naumovski Goalkeeper
3Blerton Sheji 77 Defender 22'
4Gagi Margvelashvili Defender
6Faustin Senghor Defender 52'
8Ali Adem 11 Midfielder 45'
10Freddy Álvarez Midfielder
14Pepi Gjorgiev 7 Forward
19Sunday Adetunji Forward 90+4'
32Angelche Timovski 23 Defender
37Diene Albert Lamane 5 Midfielder
88Queven Midfielder 3'
12Artan Ilazi Goalkeeper
31Amar Melichi Goalkeeper
5Xhelil Abdulla 37 Defender
7Antonio Kalanoski 14 Forward 90+2'
11Kristijan Trapanovski 8 Forward
16Melos Bajrami Defender
23Besir Demiri 32 Midfielder
47Umerfaruk Sulejman Midfielder
70Sufjan Chajani Defender
77Vladica Brdarovski 3 Defender
78Aleks Zlatkov Midfielder
99Anid Abazi Forward

Shamrock Rovers

1Alan Mannus Goalkeeper
3Sean Hoare Defender 90+2'
5Lee Grace Defender
6Daniel Cleary Defender 50'
7Dylan Watts Midfielder
8Ronan Finn 2 Midfielder 20'
9Aaron Greene 38 Forward
16Gary O’Neill Midfielder
17Richie Towell 10 Midfielder
20Rory Gaffney 11 Forward 65'
22Andy Lyons 23 Defender
25Leon Pohls Goalkeeper
30Toms Leitis Goalkeeper
2Sean Gannon 8 Defender
10Graham Burke 17 Forward
11Sean Kavanagh 20 Defender
21Justin Ferizaj Midfielder
23Neil Farrugia 22 Midfielder
28Gideon Tetteh Forward
29Jack Byrne Midfielder
38Aidomo Emakhu 9 Midfielder 85'
87'
  • 95'

    All over as Rovers are through to the Europa Conference League Group stages, but now they have the chance to remain int he Europa League, a famous 2-1 win for the Hoops

  • 94'

    Sunday Adetunji with a consolation in injury time

  • 90'

    Five Minutes of added time

  • 87'

    Emakhu is now carded

  • 85'

    EMAKHU!!!!, the youngster latches onto Watts through ball the keeper fails to clear and he scorers into an empty net

  • 81'

    Neil Ferguia and Aidomo Emakhu replace Andy Lyons and Greene in a late switch

  • 80'

    Dylan Watts another Rovers player in the book

  • 69'

    The Hoops make a double change Sean Gannon and Sean Kavanagh replace Ronan Finn and Rory Gaffney

  • 65'

    Gaffney shoots from outside the area, takes a huge deflection but he won't care

  • 65'

    RORY GAFFNEY HAS SCORED ROVERS ARE IN THE DRIVING SEAT NOW

  • 62'

    First change of the night for the Hoops, Graham Burke replaces Richie Towell

  • 52'

    Senghor brings down Towell and its yet another yellow card

  • 50'

    Daniel Cleary goes into the notebook

  • 50'

    Pepi Gjorgiev forces Mannus into a save early in the half, looked to be a scoreable chance

  • 45'

    Underway for the second half, the hosts make three half time changes

  • 46'

    Half time in Macedonia and Rovers remain ahead despite the score being 0-0

  • 45'

    One minute added on here

  • 37'

    TOWELL DENIED AGAIN WOW, his first effort is blocked by Senghor on the way to goal, the second saved by the keeper

  • 32'

    Shkupi come close again and Faustin Senghor is the man who has the attempt, goes over the bar but danger looming for Rovers

  • 27'

    Another chance for Rovers as Greene shoots from range but again misses the target

  • 22'

    Rovers clear the danger and begin a counter attack but Blerton Sheji brings down Greene and is shown a yellow for his troubles

  • 20'

    Ronan Finn is carded and a dangerous free kick now for the hosts

  • 14'

    Queven who scored in the first leg had a huge chance to make it 1-0, but goes wide of the target

  • 6'

    Kristijan Naumovski what a save, the keeper denies Towell from close range, what a chance

  • 3'

    Gaffney has a great attempt at goal the first for Rovers, while Queven is carded

  • 1'

    The hosts kick us off and we are underway

  • Just over 15 minutes away from kick off, could we be witnessing another amazing night in Irish football history as Shamrock Rovers bid for Europa League football this season

  • Shamrock Rovers also make changes, Sean Gannon does not start with Daniel Cleary replacing him, Richie Towell is back in midfield with Chris McCann injured last week in Tallaght, Aaron Greene returns to the attack as Graham Burke drops to the bench

  • The hosts are without Walid Hamidi as he was sent off last week in Tallaght, Pepi Georguiev takes his place in attack, while Besir Demiri is also replaced in their starting line up replaced by Blerton Sheji in the backline, two changes one of course enforced is their plan this evening

  • Crunch time for Shamrock Rovers as they are in action this evening to earn a spot in the Europa League play offs, 3-1 ahead on aggregate they need a huge performance to keep on top as we have seen them slip up this year, my name is Diarmuid Kearney and I will update on all the action from Macedonia this evening.

Past Meetings

(3rd Qualifying Round)
3 - 1
UEFA Europa League
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers v Shkupi

Ground

Chair Stadium
Кемал Сејфула, Chair, Skopje, Municipality of Chair, City of Skopje, Skopje Region, 1009, North Macedonia

Diarmuid Kearney is a freelance Sports Journalist based in Co Kerry. He has more than 5 years experience covering domestic and international soccer for different media organisations, while also working for local and national print and digital organisations covering GAA.